Vehicle body sunroof assemblies have been used for quite some time to provide partial opening of vehicle body roofs in order to increase ventilation and to also provide the roof with a somewhat convertiblelike capability of opening the vehicle occupant compartment. With some sunroof assemblies, the sunroof has a front edge that is secured to the roof and a rear edge that is movable upwardly from a closed position to an open position under the control of a latch mechanism. With other sunroof assemblies, the sunroof is mounted for longitudinal movement between a forward position closing the roof opening and a rearwardly retracted position below the roof to the rear of the roof opening such that the roof opening is partially opened to the environment. Examples of these two types of sunroof assemblies are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. : 4,005,901; 4,038,910; 4,085,965; 4,103,962; 4,126,352; 4,350,385; 4,403,805; 4,523,785; and 4,541,665.
In some roof constructions, there is insufficient room for a sunroof assembly of the rearwardly retractably type to have its sunroof stored below the roof in the rearwardly retracted position. To overcome this problem, it has previously been proposed to have the sunroof stored externally at a location above the roof in the rearwardly retracted position. Examples of such externally retracted sunroof assemblies are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,993,348; 4,005,900; 4,043,590; 4,407,541; 4,426,112; 4,463,983; and 4,475,767.
Vehicle sunroof assemblies as described above are conventionally mounted on a vehicle roof by cutting an opening through the outer roof panel over the front seat area that is selectively opened and closed by the sunroof. The lateral dimension of such sunroof assemblies is limited by the fact that the roof opening cut has to be located at each lateral side inboard from the adjacent side rail that defines the edge of the roof. Such side rails are conventionally defined by the adjacent side edge of the outer roof panel and by an inner rail that cooperates with the side edge to provide a hollow side rail for rigidifying the roof in order to provide the vehicle with structural integrity. The limitation on lateral width of sunroof assemblies is a particular problem with a recently introduced type of vehicle body wherein side door window frames have outer members that continue the contour of the outer roof panels at their side edges rather than being located below drip rails at the side edges of the roof. With this type of vehicle body construction, the side rails are located farther inboard than with the drip rail type of roof construction and there is thus less lateral space for the sunroof assembly to be mounted within an opening through the outer roof panel. An externally retractable sunroof assembly having a sunroof panel that extends between the doors is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,090.
In order to overcome storage problems associated with single panel vehicle sunroof assemblies, prior vehicles have included sunroof assemblies with multiple panels. See, for example U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,826,871; 1,839,727; 2,115,432; 2,861,836; 4,157,845; and 4,474,405. However, such multiple panel sunroof assemblies require seals at the junctions of the panel in order to seal the vehicle occupant compartment from the environment.
Other vehicle body tops that can be opened in a convertible like manner have included a flexible cover associated with one or more panels or bows in order to provide sealing in the closed position. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,947,570; 3,658,378; and 3,720,440.